Four years ago this week, the Denver Broncos benched Kyle Orton and placed Tim Tebow in as the team’s starter. Over the next 11 games, Tebow would lead the Broncos to a 7-4 record, a playoff win and one of the most exciting seasons in franchise history.
But while Tebow’s late-game heroics were something straight out of a Hollywood movie, (as SNL so correctly pointed out) Broncos fans should have been thanking their true savior, kicker Matt Prater.
In 2011, Prater predictably finished as Pro Football Focus’ highest graded kicker, converting 76.9 percent of his attempts, including four game-winners.
While Tebowmania was taking the country by storm, the real reason why the Broncos won six straight games, the AFC West and a first-round playoff game over the Steelers is because of one of the league’s best defenses and a clutch kicker.
Sound familiar?
Today, as in 2011, Brandon McManus sits as PFF’s highest rated kicker through five weeks, and like Prater, McManus’ clutch kicks have been one of the key components in the Broncos’ 5-0 start to the season.
And in a year where kickers have been atrocious across the NFL — and that may be being kind — McManus’ 100 percent conversion rate is even more impressive. In fact, even compared to McManus’ performance last season, the Broncos kicker has exceeded all expectations.
On 13 attempts in 2014, McManus converted only 69.2 percent of his field goal attempts, including an 0-2 mark from 50-plus yards. Through the first five weeks of 2015, McManus has attempted and made all four of his 50-plus-yard field goal attempts, more than any other kicker in the league.
Without question, McManus’ leg has been the Broncos’ most effective offensive weapon in three of their five wins. McManus accounted for 12 of the Broncos’ 19 points in Week 1, nine of the Broncos’ 23 points in Week 4 (including the game winner) and nine of the Broncos’ 16 points in Week 5.
What’s most impressive about McManus is not just that he’s making every field goal that he’s attempting, but that he’s making nearly every field goal under extreme pressure situations. The Broncos have needed every one of McManus’ points, and he’s delivered without fail.
People love to say that “Nobody loves the kicker,” but if McManus keeps carrying the Broncos to victories, Denver may need to build another statue outside Sports Authority Field.